Desk telephone set



April 23, 1946. A H. F. OBERGFELL DESK TELEPHONE SET A Filed March 25, 1944 37 INVENTOR. HERBERT F. OBERGFELL DECEASED AMANDA OBERGFELLJXGUTRIX BY v ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 23, 1946 pEs TELEPHONE sE'r l Ierbert-F. Obergfell, deceased,:late of River For est, 111., by Amanda bergfe1l,;.e2gecutri'x,qBiwer- Forest, Ill., assignor to Automatic; Electric Laboratories, Inc., Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Delaware Abificafibn Marsh 25, 1944, sei ai No 5281034 7 Claims. (or. 179-146) The invention relates in general to telephone sets, but more particularly to an improved desk telephone of thecradletype. v

The object of the invention is toimprove the construction of the desk telephone, fingers liftin}; device shown and claimed in Patent 2,200,810, issued May 14, 1940', to Han s Se ngebusch.v

In practice it was foundlthat the fingers lifting baiLfshownin the ab ove mentioned Sangebusch patent, would on certain occasions, when the desk telephone'was being moved from place to place by tn nnger lifting bail, disengage itself from itspivot al mountings in the mounting'blocks with'theiresult that the entire desk telephone would fall to the floor. vThis defect was due to the inherent construction of the fingers liitingbail the arms of which were. suiiiciently flexible to'permit the pivot pins to be withdrawn from the pivot hol'es in the mounting blocks when sufficient pressure was appliedto the sides ofthe' bail arms; The main object oi the present inveht ionjis to overcome this defect slope inwardly. The ftwo side; surfaces I2 and I3 slope upwardly and inwardly from the skirt r o o y hQ .1 %i?% which point both t he side surfaces exterid substantially vertical. The front surface; l i slopes upwardly and wa a an ang ed substan iall 9w until it is rounded inasubstantially horizontal top portionv I5 which eggtendspashort distance to h r Wh e i me ge gmt hereaii surf e. J The a I 1$= fireiiteoqai om the ea sk s H to where, it. merges witl r the top portion 15,

slopes' pwa l and nwa sil s e f the by providin'g a tongue and groove interlocking to arrangement'between the mounting blocks and the arms: of the bail so that after the bail is rotated toits lifting" position it; is im ossible for the arms to beidiseng'a'ged from their mounting blocks I},

ot er j o jects and features of a the inventi'on will be apparent from the detailed description of the-drawing"comprisingflFigsl 1 toil, inclusive. 1 shQWSQQ perspective view of the'd'esk telephonewith the hand telephone removed from the cradlef. p M o Fig. 2 shows a front view of the fingers lifting bail. L l Fig. B shows a cross section oftheifingers lifting bail taken onfthe line"A-A of Fig. 2. o 4shows1 an enlarged cross section or one. of the. armstaken on the'li'ne B-e-B of Fig.3.

Figs. 5 to 8,} inc1'usive, show different views of one of themounting blocks' Fig; v9 shows an assembly drawing of one of the mounting; blocks and one of thearms of the bailin n ormal position. The dotted lines indicate fully operated positionlof this arm. Referring now in generalto the drawing the casing I 0 of the desk telephone isforrned in one piece of some suitable, p1astic insulating compound and has a" general shape roughly correspon d i'ng to atruncated pyramid thereby enabling ease in" moulding. The base portion of the casing comprises" ten sides orskirts ll which extend substantially vertical fora short distance at which point the front, rear, and side surfaces rear surface [6 is a perfect arc of a circle'having substantially a nine inch radius Thejtwo side surfaces form side walls; l1, and. [8 which eX- tend from the top pq liion lfi near' the front to the rear skirts ll, thereby forming a channel comprising the twoinsi desurfaces l9 and. 2B of the si'de walls and'the curvedtrear surface l6. Each side wall at its highest point terminates in a pair of spaced pillars zjk The space between these pillars forming ajcradle for the; well-known combination transmitter and receiver handset.

A plunger Z2,i s'mov ably mounted in the space between the two pillars ineach side wall. These plungers; are provided for operating the. switchhook springs (not shown); whenever the handset is removedor replaced on the cradle,

A basje plate 23 having a rubber ring 24 is secured to ,thfbottom'of the cover by means of screws which screw into threaded inserts in the cover i, g i r The channel formed by thecurvedjrearsurf ace I6 and the insidesurfac es IQJland ZO of, the two side walls 11 and l 8 starts at the rear and graduly pens; Its ,greate'stdepth being at a vertical pointfrom the two rear. pillars 2i in the side walls? Dueto'thedepth lof -the channel the fingers can firmly grasp the underside of a handset (Lnot shown) re stingiph the plun ers 22 in the cradle: betweenjtl're,pilla s)l and side walls I! and IS. in known desksets only ,the tip ends of theyfingerscan; grasp- ,the sidesjof the handset resulting in an .insecureifingergrip on the handset; This; insecure finger grip often permits the handset to fall afterit has been' removed from the cradle. In case'thelhandset slips and falls from the insecure fm'g er tip grip considerable damage or breakagemay occur. z Another advantage provided by this channel is to minimize cord interference. For example, a subscriber, in hurriedly replacing the hand'set on the cradle, may allow the cord extending from the deskstand to the handset, to loop between the plungers of the cradle. In many instances V blocks 32.

these loops prevent the proper depression of the plungers since the handset rests on the cord and does not depress the plungers suificient to properly control the substation circuit. Under these conditions the telephone is temporarily out of service in regard to incoming calls. This defect has been overcome by providing a channel which starts near the front'pillars and which has sufficient depth so that the cord will not interfere with the proper operation of the plungers in case the cord is accidentally looped in between 22 which operate the cradle switchhook springs (not shown). A hole 35 is also provided in each mounting block 32 for pivotally mounting the fingers lifting ball 50.

Due to the general shape of the cover or casing illwhich is provided with smooth sloping sides, the desk telephone is not easily picked up and moved by hand from place to place because no suitable finger or hand grip is available for lifting and moving the desk telephone. In order to provide means for easily lifting and moving the desk telephone from place to: place a fingers lifting bail 50has been provided. The lifting bail is in general U-shaped having a pair of arms 52, the outer extremities of which are provided with pivot pins which are insertable in the holes 35 of the A hole 31 is promounting blocks 32 forthe purpose of rotating arms has a hook-shaped curvature near its outer extremities and that a thin plate, web, or tongue 53 is located within thishook-shaped curvature of the arms. A shoulder portion 54 of the arms is shown adjacent the web 53.

An overhanging projection stop SI and a groove, or slot are shown on each of the mounting Both the slot Bi] and the projection stop 6| are located in the path of rotation of the arms 52. Normally the bail rests on the sloping surface 16, as shown in Fig. 1, and by pressing inwardly on eachof the arms 52 it ispossibl'e to remove the bail by removing the pins 5| from 2,398,850 a s A ports, a pair of mountingblocks positioned between said pillars forming the base portion of the cradle supports, a fingers lifting bail having a pair of arms rotatably mounted in said blocks, each end of said arms having a hook-shaped curvature, a projection on each of said blocks forming a slot located in the path of rotation of said armsand-a web located within each of said hook-shaped curvatures of said arms rotated in said formed slots between said projections and the main body portion of said blocks in response to the manual rotation of said bail for locking said bail to said blocks to prevent removal of said bail from said blocks.

' 2. Ina desk telephone, a casing having side walls, a pair-of spaced pillars terminating the upper extremities of each side wall and forming the cradle support" for the hand telephone, a mounting block positioned between each pair of pillars forming the base portion of the cradle support, a plunger in each side wall extending through said blocks between said pillars, said plungers operable in response to the removaland replacement of said hand telephone with respect to the cradle support, a fingers lifting bail having a pair of arms pivotally mounted in said blocks, an overhanging projection on each of said blocks forming a slot and a stop located in the path of rotation of said arms, a web located near the outer extremities of said arms rotated in said formed slots between the overhanging projection stops and the main portion of said blocks in responseto the manual rotation of said bail for interlocking said bail and blocks to prevent removal of said bail from said blocks, and a portion of each of said arms engaging said overhanging projection stops to limit the manual rotation of said bail.

3. In a desk telephone, a casing having spaced pillars forming the hand telephone cradle supports, a pair of mounting blocks positioned between said pillars forming the base portion of the cradle supports, a fingers lifting bail having a pair of arms rotatably mounted in said blocks, each end of said arms having a hook-shaped curvature, an overhanging projection on each of said blocks forming a, slot and a stop located in I the path of rotation of said arms, a Web located within each of said hook-shaped curvatures of said arms rotated in said formed slots between the overhanging projection-stops and the main body portion of said blocks in response to the the hearing holes 35. When the bail is to be'used for moving the entire desk telephone the user grasps the closed portion of bail 5i! and rotates the same in an upward direction. During" this manual rotation the web, or tongue 53, enters the'slot 6 0 in the block 32 to prevent sideways movement of the arms thereby'interlocking the claims.

What is claimed is: 1. In a desk telephone, a casing having spaced pillars forming the hand telephone cradle supmanual rotation of said bail for interlocking said bail and blocks to prevent removal of said bail from said blocks,'and a shoulder portion on each of said arms adjacent said webs engaging said overhanging projection stops to limit the manual rotation of said bail.

4. In a desk telephone having spaced pillars forming the, hand telephone cradle supports, a pair of mounting blocks positioned between said pillars, a, fingers lifting bail havinga pair of arms pivotally mounted in saidmounting blocks, an overhanging slot in'saidblocks located in the path of rotation of the arms of. said bail, and a web on the arms of, said bail entering said slots in response to the rotation of saidbail for interlocking said bail and said blocks to prevent displacement of said ball from said blocks.

5. In a desk telephone, acasing having side walls, a pair of spaced pillars terminating the upper extremities ofeach side wall, a mounting block positioned between each pair of pillars, a fingers lifting bail having a pair of arms, a pin on'the outer extremities of saidarms for pivotally mountingsaid arms in said blocks, an

overhanging projection on each of said blocks forming a slot and a stop located in the path of rotation of the arms of said bail, a web located near the outer extremities of said arms rotated in said formed slots between the overhanging projection stops and the main portion of said blocks in response to the manual rotation of said bail for interlocking said bail and blocks to prevent removal of said bail from said blocks, and. a

arms and blocks effective for preventing removal of said hail from said blocks in response to the manual rotation of saidbail.

7. In a desk telephone, a casing having spaced pillars forming the hand telephone cradle supports, a pair of mounting blocks positioned be tweensaid pillars forming the base portion of the cradle supports, a fingers lifting bail having a pair of arms pivotally mounted in said blocks, said arms being suflicientlyresilient to permit removal of said bail from said mounting blocks, and a tongue and groove locking means on said arms and blocks effective for preventing removal of said bail from said blocks in response to the manual rotation of said bail.-

AMANDA OBERGFELL, Ewecutria: of the Estate of Herbert F. Obergfell,

Deceased. 

